Man Up
by PhantomPotterGirl
Summary: "So please Shinichi-kun. Don't tell me that you, the detective brat, after all the crap you've gone through—are finally giving up?" Hint of Ran/Shinichi and Shinichi-Sonoko friendship


A/N: Ohmygod I am so so sorry that after the last thing that I wrote, and after years of waiting, I threw out this...omg seriously, I am so so so so sorry. This is probably the cheesiest, clichéd and crappiest thing that I have ever written. Omg I'm so sorry. I promise that I'll write more Kaito/Aoko things because I really have one or two half-written things about them...somewhere...in the making. It's just my MOCK exams where in the way for three weeks in November, so I was unable to function writing that month-totally sorry about that.

Hopefully I'll come out with some better things than this half-assed shit throughout the year.

Disclaimer: don't own and that's why imma shoot myself

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"_Man Up"__  
_

_by: PhantomPotterGirl_

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Sonoko's relation to Shinichi was...complicated.

They weren't childhood friends.

They weren't related by blood.

They didn't have the same interests.

He was calm and she was excited.

He was logical and she believed in fairytales and happy endings.

Their personalities were as distinct as the sun and moon.

And they had nothing which distantly related them to one another.

The only common factor that seemed to exist between the two was Ran. Ran's best girl friend was Sonoko, and Shinichi was her childhood friend who she, not-so-secretly, was in love with. Shinichi had in his entire life, never particularly liked Sonoko that much (and vice-versa)—he could never understand the appeal that Ran saw in Sonoko as a best friend (oh sure, he could _why_, there were _some _admirable qualities in her…deep, deep, _deep _down in her…somewhere; he just couldn't understand _how_).

They never particularly _hated _one another, but they didn't _enjoy _each others' presence either.

Shinichi hated her constant flirty, naïve attitude (and how she constantly teased and pinched about Ran and his interests). Sonoko hated his boring, detective-geekiness (and how he constantly left Ran in the dust to chase bothersome cases wherever they were).

So when Shinichi finally did return and, with great difficulty, divulged Ran about his messy Conan-and-Black-Organisation business—no one expected Sonoko to be the one comforting Shinichi's sorrow.

"...she hates me."

"How could she _not_?"

Silence.

"...Kudo-kun."

No answer.

"Kudo-kun."

...

"_Kudo-kun_."

Frustrated: "_For goodness'_ _sake!_" she grabbed his shoulders, and forced him to look in her eyes; "You _idiot! _What do you think that you're doing just sitting there? _No! No! Don't look away—look at me! Look at me you stupid detective!_" his startled eyes looked back at hers; her eyes were reddened and slightly moist. She had slapped him.

"Three years!" she yelled at him, "three years we've all—no, _she's_—waited for you! For three years I've watched her miss you, cry over you...and you've—you've _been there...the entire time!_ Just—just—_what, did you think? _That I'd just let you get away with it? That I'll just let you sit _there like an idiot _and _give up_?" she wiped a tear from her eye, "I don't think so—you, _Kudo Shinichi_, are not getting away with making my best friend—the best and most _sweetest _person in the world—cry and pine for you for _three years_...and just..._give up_. Do you know how...how hard I've _worked _to get you two here? If I'd left you two alone—you guys would've been heading nowhere! And _what_—did you think that I'll let you destroy that? All that hard work...for—for _nothing_?"

She had let out a choked sob, and for the first time, Sonoko didn't succumb to sadness; the idiot _needed _to hear this. So she turned towards his shocked face once again—and the anger boiled even hotter in her blood.

"Even when you were the shrimp she's taken consideration of _your _feelings! Even when she didn't even _know it_. It was always you, you, you! Frankly, Shinichi-kun, _you don't deserve her_. You've broken her heart too many times. You've left her and made her worry over you, _wait for you_—you've done so many things like cancelling plans at the last minute—running off to solve your _stupid _cases and _not told her _the truth! You've made so many mistakes and you've made her cry so much. _I hate you for what you've done_. I _hate _you. God knows that we've never liked one another that much—but you've hurt my best friend; and the regulatory rules of a best friend proves that I should be here to _kick you where is hurts _and forbid you from _ever going near _Ran _ever _again."

...

"...but no matter how much I want to—I can't."

Hoarsely: "...why?"

"She loves you." Sonoko said, disbelievingly. His eyes widened.

She shook her head, smiling sadly, "I don't know how, _how_ she could still love you and forgive you after _everything _that you've done to her...I just know that—even when she slams the door in your face, she wants you to come back. And right now...she's _still waiting for you_. She's crying her eyes out not because she hates you, because she thinks you don't _trust her_."

"But..." Shinichi started.

Sonoko shook his shoulders, "—_listen to me_. You've lied to her about who you were. Lived under her roof for _three years_, never told her the truth, made her _worry _and cry over you because she believed that you were out there solving some big, dangerous life-threatening case...and when she suddenly finds out that you've _been there_, under her nose, _all along, all this time_; comforting her about _yourself_—just imagine, how would that make you feel?"

His eyes shadowed.

Sonoko blew out a long sigh and let go of his shoulders; letting herself plop against the sofa next to him, her bittersweet smile growing—the anger had left her.

"Listen to me Kudo-kun." She said softly. He turned towards her, "she's been waiting. Rejecting every single handsome guy that asked her out in the past three years. And I'm tired. I'm tired of watching her wait. Tired of waiting for _you_ to get detective rear in gear and admit your feelings. Just because I tease you, doesn't mean that I don't understand how much you love her—I tease you, so that you'll realize how...how _short _your time together is. You're a detective aren't you? You've got enemies—you're the last person I should be bothering about how short life is...because, no matter how much I hate it—you're _always _going to be solving cases. And there's always going to be Ran waiting for you at the end of the day..."

Softly: "So please Shinichi-kun. Don't tell me that you, the detective brat, after all the crap you've gone through—are finally giving up?"

She didn't even have the chance to finish her sentence properly, when he suddenly leapt from the sofa and ran out the door with the speed of a lion, running as if the fate of the world depended on it.

Sonoko grinned wearily, "Deduction Queen strikes again."

* * *

Half a year later, Sonoko received a small package in the mail. It contained one airplane ticket, and front row seats of Karate Championship event in Florida. Staring up at her on the Karate Championship leaflet; was Makoto's, (her boyfriend of whom she hadn't seen for three months, due to his tournament) face; smirking confidently and circled by a black sharpie. Tucked in the envelope was a postcard from Hawaii.

The familiar handwriting that greeted her was: _Wish you were here Sonoko. We love you!_

Flipping the card over, was a picture of Ran and Shinichi at the beach: his arms around her, kissing her cheek as she laughed with the most delight on her face—the sun yellowed their skin a light tan—bringing out the blue of Ran's eyes.

In tiny writing, that Sonoko almost missed it, on the white borderline of the postcard, was Shinichi's scrawled writing:

_I still don't forgive the teasing._

She smirked—that was good enough an apology for her.

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A/N: ...please don't shoot me. Review?

_PhantomPotterGirl _


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